The Almost Kiss
by kygirl101
Summary: Kaoru has a problem, brillo pads and a fear that can't be explained. Hikaru has questions. Kyouya has answers. Done for the Phobia challenge on S.H.I.N.E. KyouKao


_This was done for the Phobia Challenge on S.H.I.N.E. Our mission is to re-populate with quality fictions that are OC free. Here's my contrubution._

_Kissing- Philemaphobia or Philematophobia_

**_The Almost Kiss_**

-

"Lean closer," he commanded. I did.

-

"_Hikaru, it's not coming off."_

-

My breath came in sporadic gasps and my fingers shook where they were on the table. Tightening my hold on the edge, I allowed gravity to carry my body forward.

-

_I grabbed a Brillo pad from under the sink. "I can still feel it!"_

-

No one else was in the Third Music Room besides the two of us. Hikaru and Tamaki had chased Haruhi home while she avidly claimed that she needed to prepare dinner. Honey and Mori had gone off to practice at the dojo. That, coupled with the fact that club hours were over, left me completely alone, save for the Shadow King.

"What's wrong, Kaoru?"

-

"_What's wrong, Kaoru?" Hikaru asked as I started scrubbing my face._

-

"N-Nothing," I mumble under my breath.

-

My lungs felt like they were closing and my heart seemed to beat so loudly that I was sure Kyouya could hear it as well. _Tumdum tumdum tumdumtum tumdumdum._

-

_I began to vigorously scratch at my face, the wet and crawling feeling pricked at my flesh and made it burn. I hardly felt the roughness of the toxic sponge. _

_-_

Kyouya smiled at me. I shivered and leaned forward. My breath ghosted over his face as his did mine. My fingers shook as I released the table and hesitantly raised my hand to the Shadow King's shoulder (weather to push him away or steady myself, I do not know).

"Are you scared?" Kyouya asked, almost mockingly.

-

"_Kaoru, stop!" Hikaru has said. I did so and looked at him, tears swimming in my eyes._

"_It hurts, Hikaru," I moaned in anguish, "I can't make it stop. It won't come off."_

_-_

"Isn't that the whole point of this?" I asked lightly. "I mean, when you agreed to help me, you had to know I wasn't going to be willing…"

I trailed off, caught between the thought of smiling and crying. For what seemed like hours now, we'd been sitting like this; I on a low coffee table, and him on one of the many couches we used during hosting hours, lips barely inches apart, and I still couldn't go through with it.

-

"_Kaoru, what's wrong?!" Hikaru pleaded with me, holding my face while inspecting the damage. "Kaoru, tell me!!"_

-

"You simply mentioned you had a _problem_," I heard him whisper, "You never mentioned that it would be this…extensive…"

I snorted, taking the opportunity to lean back. "I don't have a problem," I laughed airily, "I'm just…"

Our faces are reasonably close again, noses almost touching and I feel my breath catch in my throat.

"_Scared?_" the Shadow King breathed.

-

_I stand up, silently thanking my feet for not giving out under me. My arms go limp at my sides and the rough sponge falls onto the floor, next to Hikaru. Hikaru who Is looking up at me with big, bright and worried eyes; my brother, who looks like he might cry _just _because he can't tell what's wrong with me._

"_I…it's nothing…" I say, feeling the tears prick my skin._

-

"No!" I snap, leaning back. But Kyouya moves with me, and eventually he if lifted off his seat by the motions, and I am flat on my back on this small coffee table while my upperclassman looms above me.

"Then why do you keep running away?"

I had nothing to say to that.

-

_Hikaru was staring at me as I wiped the blood from my cheek._

"_What do you mean nothing? Kaoru, you're not telling me something. What is it?"_

_I shook my head. _

-

I felt his lips brush over mine, but before he could deepen the almost-kiss, I jerked my head to the side, causing the _actual_-kiss to land on my jaw line.

From the moment it happened, no matter how brief or innocent, it felt like my skin was on fire. A burning, itching feeling made it's way up my face, stemming from the spot Kyouya had kissed. It felt my skin turn to goose flesh and my eyes started to tear up.

Yet, at the same time…my veins jumped, as if shocked by electricity…And it wasn't _all_ that unpleasant.

-

_My eyes felt dry, a result of the salty streaks running down my face, collecting on my chin an streaming down my neck. My face was still on fire, but a lessoned one now I had gotten _it_ off. Gently, I touched the spot where our aunt had kissed earlier, during the family reunion. It stung but that was all._

"_Kaoru, are you okay?" Hikaru asked._

-

I panicked. I'd been expecting the same burning feeling—the same on I'd gotten when kissed by the others. But, this time…this time was different.

"Get off of me," I heard someone say, only to realize it was me. Kyouya heeded my words, sitting back on the couch while I lay there, breathing heavily as if I had just run a marathon. My skin prickled…

-

"_Yeah…" I trailed off, extending a hand to pull my twin to his feet. I smiled._

-

After what seemed minutes, I finally sat up, one hand on the table, the other softly against my cheek. I imagine my eyes were huge when I looked to Kyouya.

He shifted slightly before standing and picking up our school bags, both of which had been left by the couch's arm rest. Wordlessly, Kyouya handed mine to me and shouldered his own.

"I think we better be going," he said coldly. I was confused.

-

"_I think we should get back to mother's party, don't you?" I asked softly, walking towards the bathroom door, Hikaru following behind me quietly. I stopped in the hallway, facing the large grandfather clock; ten after midnight._

"_Maybe we should just go to bed…"_

-

"Kyouya, wait!"

I lurched after him, a broad and rather unexplained grin on my face. However, I seemed to have overshot the distance between us and ended up tackling him to the ground. We rolled.

"Kaoru, what the—" my upperclassman asked. I could practically see the dears in his head working to process the sudden change in attitude, position and altitude.

"Thank you, Kyouya-senpai!" I beamed, smiling as brightly as I could from under him. I reached up to loop my arms around his neck and pulled him down—who gives a damn about dignity, anyways—into a horizontal hug.

"Kaoru, what—?"

"You fixed it!" I gushed, still not releasing his neck. "It doesn't hurt anymore and it's because of _you!. _Senpai, when you first suggested this—these crazy therapy sessions, I thought you were joking, but—I mean—it really worked."

And with that, I did something that I'd been too scared to do my entire life. Something that had plagued my nightmares since I was seven and had tried to scratch all evidence of any act relation to my own current one off my skin. Something that I had never done before.

I kissed Kyouya Ootori; fully on the lips, with my mouth even a little parted and for once, it didn't hurt.

It stung a bit, however, when he pulled away and looked at me quizzically. I simply smiled back at him.

Neither of us made a move to get up from the floor, nor disentangle our legs from the other's.

"Thank you, Kyouya," I breathed.

-

_Hikaru was still staring at me with wide eyes. "Kaoru…" he whispered. "What was that?"_

_I hung my head, restraining myself from lifting a hand to my face. It felt raw and stinged a little bit when the air conditioner blew. _

"_Nothing…" I tell him. "It was nothing."_

-

For the first time, I see him smile, with no malice or anything behind his glasses. It's simply an easy way to show his pleasure at helping me. And it seemed contagious, because soon enough I was smiling, even wider than before. Then, we're laughing; just laying there, laughing. And we can't stop.

-

"_It was nothing, Hikaru."_

-

"It was nothing, Kaoru."


End file.
